‘Anna’ witch hunt
In an article in the Age, Andra Jackson sheets home the blame for the trials and tribulations of Cornelia Rau, AKA ?Anna Schmidt,? to the Queensland Police.
Queensland police say they were unable to identify her, even though she was listed as missing with NSW police. They handed her over to immigration authorities after she gave an alias of “Anna” and spoke some German, leading them to suspect she was “an illegal non-citizen”.The words even though she was listed as missing with NSW police don’t really mean much if the woman is talking German, doesn’t give her name and is carrying no ID. It was most probably reasonable to take the action they did – hand her over to immigration. The words even though she was listed as missing with NSW police definitely don’t mean anything when the family hadn’t even submitted their missing persons report at the time of the Queensland police intervention. The Age’s timeline has her handed over to the police by the Aborigines at Coen in March and her family filing a missing person’s report with the NSW Police in August. (scroll down to the bottom of the page) So not only are the police guilty of thinking that someone who looks, talks and acts like an illegal non-citizen needs to be handed over to Immigration but they failed to check for a missing person’s file that hadn’t even been submitted. I’m of the opinion that the initial problem in this terrible case is the State Governments abrogation of their duty towards the care of mentally ill people. Mental institutions are politically incorrect in these enlightened days with the result that more and more of the insane or mentally disturbed are pushed into standard hospitals that can ill afford the bed space or time to give them proper treatment. ‘Send them back on the street’ say the bean counters and we end up with ‘Anna’ walking around Coen jabbering in German.
During her detention she was subjected to physical restraint in Brisbane prison. At Baxter she was isolated for a week and then locked in her room for 18 hours a day, despite exhibiting highly disturbed behaviour.Says who? In another article in The Age Pamela Curr, co-ordinator of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Melbourne says;
…her (Anna’s)fate could befall Australia residents who could not confirm their identity, whether ill or not.and she is most probably right. If you look foreign, speak only in a foreign tongue, can’t ID yourself and generally act ‘iffy’ then you will attract the attention of Immigration. That’s their job and if one is found acting like an illegal non-citizen then it is the job of police hand such people over to immigration for them to make an assessment. Pamela Curr and Andra Jackson are both supporters of illegal boat people and visa over-stayers who shop for the country with the best social security and consequently come here. Pamela, Andra and their kind will never forgive Howard for stopping the boat people cold in their tracks and look for every breech or supposed breech of their vision of how the country should be run as a means to attack the government. Beazley talks of compensation
Speaking on Channel Ten’s Meet The Press, Mr Beazley said Ms Rau could well have a compensation claim against the Immigration Department.Good idea Kim. Start with the Manly Hospital and the NSW Health Department. The Democrats want a judicial enquiry and also demand a Senate enquiry. They will want that before June so it will be stacked with Labour, Democrats and Greens. They most probably see this as their last chance to embarrass the government. Not to be outdone the Refugee Action Coalition want a royal commission with Vanstone?s head on a plate as the centre-piece.
The NSW Refugee Action Coalition has called for a royal commission into Ms Rau’s detention and for Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone to resign “for allowing such a brutal episode to take place in one of her detention centres”.Roll on the Conservative Senate majority. ‘Anna’s” case is regrettable but terms of reference for any enquiry needs to centre on how she slipped through the system in the first place. What was her path from Manly to Coen. How does a psychiatric patient in such a bad way as has been reported, escape in the first place. Coen is a bloody long way from Manly – did no one notice a deranged woman, unable to speak English wandering around? When she was in the Brisbane prison and ‘had to be restrained’ why wasn’t she subject to a full psychiatric assessment and treated accordingly. Kim Beasley might suggest the family sue Queensland Corrective services and Health Department as well as the NSW Health system. I feel sorry for the woman and wish her and her family well but I think point- scoring by the banshees of the left needs to be toned down so we can look at all aspects of the case – starting with the contributions of the NSW and Queensland Health and Corrective Services departments and then by tracing her path of troubles all the way from Manly Hospital to Baxter.
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Of course the family is not to blame for this matter in the slightest. After all, they did contact the authorities to report Rau missing…after five months.
Right on Kevin- wish a few more could write with such common sense.
I have to tell you that the ‘wonderful’ State Psychiatric Hospitals and Pysch wards in public hospitals are no joyful place to be and many psych nurses are morons- the treatment at Baxter would be no more degrading than she experienced from wherever she ‘escaped from’
Having been seconded to such places as a general nurse and seen a family member incarcerated in one I can testify from both angles. I was appalled at the attitude of some staff who were supposedly trained to care for these poor souls.
People like Cecilia too have patterns of behavior that are cyclical and they can appear as normal as anyone else, they are also very clever at masking their ‘real ‘ self- she could well have believed people were after her and frightened of being taken back and forced to take medication- in fact reasearch on Prozac and similiar drugs has been shown to accerbate the psychosis in some. Much to uncover and not Amanda V’s responsibility. No doubt since all the oppositions have nothing better to do we will have this a continuence of Abu Ghraib
Maybe read a few more reports before you make your assessment.
From what is emerging now, some of your statements are already incorrect. And by the time the saga is over, and an official report published, there will probably be a few more.
Saint: Be specific and constructive
Kev, Saint is not usually either specific nor constructive and when backed into a corner comes out swinging with his bible quotes. Apparently there is a bit in there about me being a “fool and a slanderer”. I haven’t found it yet.
Beware!! You don’t need a long neck to be a goose.
Of course it was the Guv’mints fault. otherwise who do you sue?
Sure she spoke german, gave a german name, had stolen passports and said that she was a german illegal. but its the Guv’mints fault.
No it was the Police at fault as they did not use their standard issue chrystal ball or use their powers of psychic ability.
Despite the fact she gave three different names, none of which were her own, denying she was on medication or mentally ill, on three different occassions – in three different institutions, told them she was an illegal immigrant, spoke with a heavy german accent (so bad she could be hardly understood on occassions), professing to be a 25 year old backpacker from Germany who had outstayed her visa, had stolen passports and a host of other things all which were along the same lines.
I dont know whey they didnt question her about the Betty Shanks murder, or who killed Mr Burns while she was in there.
In fact come to think of it she could have been my missing Aunt Fanny …………….. or Uncle Thickhead ………or the tooth fairy………..
They shoulda known.
I think that the focus on the immigration departments role in this case comes more from objections to the detention system than it does from the details of this case.
It seems to me similar to PETA’s case against mulesing (sorry for dragging another fight into this one :-P). Their main objection is to animal husbandry, mulesing is just a particular case they think makes a good place to attack the wider system. If you ask those complaining the loudest about immigrations role in the Rau case, I believe most would think the best way to prevent it happening again is to close the detention centres.
Dave,
Agreed. As I said both Curr and Jackson have an anti-Immigration stance as do most of the other banshees. The plot thickens as more info comes to light and Qld and NSW still have to answer some questions. I see Beattie has at least released transcripts and done the much demanded but Yeah..whatever ‘apology’ but I’ve heard nothing from Carr yet.
I agree Dave, by the way doesn’t PETA stand for – “People for the Eating of Tasty Animals.” ……..
(crack)……. sorry back into my box